Social media continues to pull back the curtain on Fashion Week. Thanks to Instagram and Snapchat, Fashion Week is a social media phenomenon that the general public is interested in. 

Before Instagram and Snapchat there were barriers to being part of all the fashion week action.

Older methods on how the general public was able to participate in fashion week meant buying a magazine, looking at a few runway shots online, and reading reviews. Now people that not in the fashion industry get a unique behind the scenes view of Fashion Week because of Snapchat and Instagram. The general public is now able to see what’s happening at Fashion Week in real time.”Fashion Week used to be an event that happened behind closed doors,” explains Matthew Drinkwater from London college, “now [Instagram and Snapchat] have smashed those doors.” For example, many designers’ Instagram and Snapchat accounts go live during the show.

The public also has access to a unique behind the scenes experience.

With the view that Instagram and Snapchat have to offer, it is just as much about models Snapchatting and Instagramming before a show as it is about the actual runway. Runway designers and magazines are fighting to get the “it model” of the moment to take over their Instagram and Snapchat accounts for the hours leading up to the show. Earlier this month at New York Fashion Week, Kaia Gerber, who is the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, took over Vogue’s Instagram account before the Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2018 show. Many of Kaia’s 1.9 million Instagram followers tuned into Vogue’s Instagram story to see the events leading up to the show through Kaia’s age. She videoed the show set up, conversations she had with various other models, and her backstage beauty prep.

Instagram and Snapchat have given Fashion Week a shake up. It is no longer an event where just the buyers and editors see the new collections, decide on their offerings for the upcoming season and discern big trends. Now, thanks to social media, the consumers can be just as involved as those in the fashion industry.